Vacuum-tube lighting.



D. McF. MOORE.

VAGUUM TUBE LIGHTING.

APPLIUATION FILED MAY 8 1906.

1,605,867, Patented Oct. 17, 1911.

INVENTOR Dcu-uel an ifIoU/ ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL McFARLAN MOORE, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOB TO MOORE ELEC-TRICAL OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

- VACUUM-TUBE LIGHTING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 8, 1906. Serial No. 315,727.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, DANmL MOFARLA Moons, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, with post-.oflice address 52 Lawrence street, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Vacuum-Tube Lighting, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of elecform or character in whichlight is produced trio lamps in which the source of light is a luminous'gas or vapor excited to luminos-- ity by electric energy applied tosaid gas or vapor through the medium of suitable electrodes locatedrespectively at opposite ends or sides of a translucent tube orreceptacle of any desired form.

The object of my present invention is to permit a light of any desiredspectrum to be produced from the electrically agitated gas or vapor.

Briefly stated, my invention consists in the combination with a vacuumtube, of two or more gas valves each controlling the admission of gas tothe tube and of different nature from that controlled by the other froma body of gas of greater density than the gas within the tube and meansautomatically responsive to changes in the gas density within the tubefor operating said valves at the same time.

In carrying out my invention, I prefer to employ for this purpose anelectromagnet or magnets which are properly connected to the circuits ofthe tube or the supply wires or conductors so as to be affected bychanges in the electrical resistance of the body of gas within the tubedue to a change of the density of the gas.

The invention consists further in the method of correcting or modifyingthe spectrum of a gas or vapor electric lamp consisting in feeding intothe lamp a gas having a different spectrum and in suflicient amount forcorrecting the color spectrum natural to that of the contained gas.

My invention consists further in the special methods and combinations ofdevices hereinafter more particularly described and then specified inthe claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 shows in general side elevationand partly in perspective an apparatus adapted for carrying out myinvention. Fig. 2 shows in detail in vertical partial section a portionof the device for controlling the feed of gas to the tube.

The apparatus shown embodies in its conistruction some of the details ofapparatus shown and described in other applications for patent filed byme and to which reference 1 will be specifically made hereinafter.

1 indicates a vacuum tube of any desired by the passage of electricenergy through an attenuated gas or vapor, the energy being supplied inany desired way, as for instance, i by means of internal electrodes 2 aswell understoodin the art or by any other desired means. The energy isshown as obtained from the secondary of a transformer 3, but might beobtained from any desired source.

4 is a gas feed tube which may branch as shown into branches 5 so as tofeed the gas or gases into both ends of the tube as it is described inmy prior application filed Feb. 7th, 1906, S. N. 299,884. The gas mightbe fed, however, at any desired point or pointssome suitable means forregulating the flow of the gas.

. By preference I use some form' of valve and the preferred form ofvalve is a liquid seal valve such as described in my prior application#275,003, filed Aug. 21st, 1905. This form of valve is illustrated indetail in Fig. 2 and comprises a valve chamber 7 containing a porousbody 8 comprising preferably gas carbon which forms a plug in the mouthof the tube leading to tube 6 and which is immersed in a body of mercuryor other liquid whose height can be-varied by a plunger 9 connected .tothe movable core of an electromagnet l0. By variations of I PatentedOct. 17,1911.

the height of mercury, the extent of porous plug exposed above the levelof the liquid may be varied and hence the feed of the gas from the valvechamber 7 into the tube 6 may be controlled. The spaces in the valvespectrum of light in tube 1, I will assume the feeding into said tube,at the same time, of carbonic dioxid gas and nitrogen and I will alsoassume the use of gas generators or converters adapted respectively toproduce said gases and connected permanently with the gas valvescontrolling respectlvely the flow in the feed tube 6.

The appliances for securing the desired gases may be as follows: Thatfor producing the carbonic dioxid gas is substantially the same as isdescribed in my prior application filed April 16th, 1906, S. N. 311,815,and is as follows: 12 is a jar or receiver of any suitable materialcontaining a body of liquid such as hydrochloric acid. 13 is a chamberpreferably of glass mounted in any suitable manner and having its lowerend sealed by immersion "in the hydrochloric acid. Said chamber 13 ispreferably formed, as shown, with a contraction to afford a support forthe mass of broken calcium carbonate' which is thereby prevented fromfreely dropping into the contracted extens1on of chamber 13.Conveniently, the chamber is mounted in a rubber gasket or ring 15seated in the mouth of the receiver 12. The pressure on the surface ofthe liquid within receiver 12 external to the chamber 13 is practicallythat of the atmosphere, there being naturally or designedly a slightleak from the external atmosphere at the point where the chamber 13 isseated in the mouth of the chamber or bottle 12. The upper end of thechamber 13 is closed by a stopper of rubber or other suitable substance16 through a perforation in which passes a glass tube 17; the latter inturn connects in any suitable way and by an elbow 18 with an enlargedtube or section of tubing 19 which may contain calcium chlorid or otherdrier adapted to remove or take up moisture from the gas furnished bythe gas generator. In elbow 18 is a mass of mercury adapted to operateas an automatic regulator of the inflow of gas from gas generationchamber to the valve regulating chamber. Said mass of mercury is of suchamount that it will permit a minute quantity of the gas to pass onlywhen the pressure in the valve chamber 7 falls through the feeding outof gas into the tube 1. The adjustment of pressures should be, bypreference, such that in valve chamber 7 the pressure will not be verymuch greater than the desired pressure in the vacuum tube. The trap at18 operates to prevent the communication of the full pressure existingin the gas generator to the valve chamber 7. It will be understood thatthe pressure in 7, however, ma be anything desired above that tobemamtained in the vacuum tube. However, a very high pressure in 7 wouldbe undesirable, because there would then be a tendency to a suddeninrush of gas upon the opening of the valve which is a result to beavoided because it would tend to produce sudden and violent fluctuationsin the gaseous tension Within the tube 1.

In the elbow at the top of tube 17 is showna mass or masses of fibrousmaterial like cotton adapted to operate as a gas filter. In theadjustment of the apparatus, the level of the hydrochloric acid in thechamber 12 should be made such, that in introduction of the calciumcarbonate into the chamber 13, the liquid will just touch the mass ofcalcium carbonate and generate the carbonic dioxid gas. As thegeneration goes on, the pressure rises in the generating chamber andfinally depresses the leg of the hydrostatic column of hydrochloric acidwhich seals the bottom of chamber 13 and depresses the same so as tocarry it out of contact with the calcium carbonate and stop thegeneration of the gas. Obviously, the pressure accumulating in the gasgenerating chamber will depend, largely upon the initial level of liquidin chamber 12. The passage of the accumulated gas to the valve chamber 7is permitted to take place from time to time through the regulating trapor valve at 18 and as often as the gas feeds out of valve chamber 7 andlowers the pressure to such extent that the superior pressure in thegenerating chamber and connections may move the mercury column at 18 soas to permit a bubble or bubbles of the generated gas to slide by thetrap or elbow and into the connections leading from said elbow tochamber 7. When through repeated actions of this kind the pressure inthe gas generating chamber 13 diminishes, sufficiently more gas will begenerated by reason of the fact that the superior pressure on thesurface of the liquid exterior to said chamber Will raise thehydrochloric acid into contact with the calcium carbonate and generatemore gas as already explained. The waste products or the disintegratedmaterial produced by the action of the hydrochloric acid on the calciumcarbonate drops down to the bottom of the chamber 12, allowing freshsolid material to feed down to position for contact With the liquid. Forfurnishing the nitrogen element of the mixed gas fed to the tube bymixture in the common connection 4 from the feed 6, I may use thedevices described in my prior application filed April 2, 1906, S. N.309,286.

21 is a glass receiver having a contraction at 21, adapted to form asupport for a number of superimposed disks of phosphorus 33 arrangedwithin the cylinder and separated by glass or other suitable material,the.

whole organized to allow the air or other gas to percolate and, bycontact with the phosphorus, to give up its oxygen. Below thecontraction 21 is a bulb 24 into which the air admitted at 25 passesafter leaving the trap or elbow 18', while at its top the receiver 21 isprovided with a suitable stopper through which the air, robbed of itsoxygen, passes to the pipe 11. The bulb 24 serves as a trap to catch theproduct of the union of the oxygen and phosphorus.

At 27 is shown a chamber containing calcium chlorid or other drier whichchamber forms also a part of the tubes or passages through which the airhas to circulate before reaching the vacuum tube. By these means thenitrogen reaches the tube in a dry condition.

27 indicates a filter consisting, for in stance, of a mass of cottonfiber which takes up any dust or similar impurities from the The trap18' prevents free ingress of air and acts like an automatic gas pressureregulator or governor to admit a bubble or minute quantity of air, ondiminution of the gas pressure, in the gas spaces connecting the chamber21 with the tube 11 and the valve operated by electromagnet 10 or othermeans in the same way that the trap 18, already described, operates. Bythis means no more air will be permitted to pass than will be requiredfor the continued operation of the tube and free access of the air tothe phosphorus and undue consumption of the same will betavoided.

By properadjustment of the action of the valves by adjusting theposition of the magnets which sustain the plungers so as to admit thenitrogen and carbonic dioxid gas in the proper proportions, anapproximate daylight spectrum may be produced by the luminous gas ormixture of gases in tube 1. As will be obvious, by thus feeding amixture of gases, either before or after their mixture, a light of anydesired spectrum may be secured.

Obytiously, my invention is applicable to the feeding of any other gasesthan those selected for the purpose of describingtheprinciplefof myinvention in one of its desirable for s. Further than this the inventioncan be Y app ied to changing or correcting the spectrurns of allelectric lights produced by the conduction of electricity through gases.For example, when one or both of the electrodes of a vacuum tube consistof mercury the apparatus may be employed for the purpose ofautomatically governing the introduction of nitrogen or other gas orgases adapted to correct the color spectrum or modify the quality of thelight.

It is preferred in all cases to operate the valves automatically bydevices responsive to changes in the vacuum of the tub? 1' e58 than thatof the body of gas which is fed which is to be maintained at a densiinto the same in minute regulated'amounts from the valve chambers orother spaces. This automatic feed is preferably obtained by the use ofelectromagnets 10, 10 which may be connected into the circuit of thetube direct, or otherwise connected so. that the strength of saidmagnets will depend upon the variations in the electrical resistance ofthe gas within the tube 1. The density of said gas being preferably suchthat a decrease will be to a lowering of the resistance, it will beobvious that, on diminution of the pressure within the tube 1, morecurrent will flow in the magnets 10,10 and the two valves will beoperated to feed both nitrogen and carbonic dioxid or any other twogases desired at the same time to said tube. Obviously also the mixtureof the gases might take place at any desired point and the feedregulating devices' such as a gas valve operated to control the feed ofthe mixture. In the preferred form of my invention and as shown herein,however, the regulated feed is used for each gas and the mixture of themtakes place after they pass the valves and in the tube 4.

I do not limit myself to placing the operating magnets in the secondarycircuit of the transformer, since they might obviously be placed in theprimary when the mains, to which the transformer is connected, areconstant potential mains.

It will be observed that in my apparatus a mixture of the gases takesplace before they are admitted to the tube. This is important sinceitwould be diiiicult to secure a uniform efiect throughout the tube byadmitting the gases separately at difierent points and allowing them tomix after their entrance.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. The combination with a vacuum tube of a plurality of gas valves eachcontrolling the admission of gas to a tube from an independent body ofgas differing in kind from that controlled by the other and meansautomatically responsive to changes in the gas density within the tubefor operating said valves at the same time.

2. The combination with a vacuum tube lamp, of gas generators orconverters, each adapted to produce a different gas, a feed tube joinedto the vacuum tube and connected to both of said generators, feed valvesinterposed between the generators and feed tubes and actuating magnetsfor said valves responsive to changes in the resistance of the gas inthe vacuum tube.

3. The method of controlling or correcting the spectrum of a gas orvapor electric lamp consisting in feeding into the lamp a gas of anature suitable for correcting the color i spectrum of the gas or vaporwithin the lamp, as and-forthe purpose described 4...The combination ofa vacuum tube lamp, a gas feed tube connected thereto and meanscontrolled by changes-in gaseous den-' .sit within the lamp for feedingto said tube di erent gases from independent and for the purposedescribed. v. 5. The combination with a vacuum tube of a SOIII'CBS 8.8

plurality of gas feed valves controlling re-' spectively the flow ofgases different in kind and independent operating magnets for saidvalves both responsive to changes in the vacuum within the tube; v v

'6. The combination of a vacuum tube, a plurality of gas feedvalves andactuating magnets therefor, said magnets being in series with oneanother and responsive to i changes in the resistance of the gas withinthe tube.

7. The combination with a vacuum tube' lamp, of a gas feed tubeconnected thereto the action 0? said feed devices.

and means for supplying carbon dioxid gas and nitrogen inregulated-amounts to' said 7' feed tube simultaneously. 2 8. Thecombination of a vacuum tube lamp, a gas feed tube, and two gas valvescontrolling the admission respectively to said tube of carbonvdioxid'gas and nitrogen.

9. The i combination of a vacuum tube lamp, a gas feed tube connectedthereto, independent sources of carbon di-oxid gas and nitrogen feeddevices controlling respectively' the supply of carbon dioxid gas andnitrogen to the feed tube, and means responsive to chan es in the vacuumfor governing May ,York and State of New York this 1st day of

